Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Too Much Media, Too Little Val

Despite what you may think, my interest in blogging and social media has not waned.It has been diverted. I have had this blog for several years (back in the days when I wasn't driving and I was slowly losing my seizure-having mind) and I love it. I love it like an old, pet cat. Speaking of cats, you need one?I am sort of stuck.I talk. I talk a lot. Not as much as some, but definitely more than most. And while I have all these words floating around in my head and they tend to just fall out of my mouth (like today when the Nebraska Furniture man delivered my new kitchen chair, he had been in the house a total of about 12 seconds and I randomly offered him some snacks and water--which he took me up on), sometimes even talkers stop talking.Or run out of coherent things to say. Life has been pretty crazy the last few months. I know. Everyone says that. I actually don't say it very often, and certainly not as any kind of excuse for whatever of my area I am falling short in. But it is true.I retired from RYLA, after 10 years. We had cancer surgery (Mr. Fun and I--two days apart--both benign). I drove 4,859 miles back east. Because I could. I have been called as a photography missionary for the Mormon Church. I have even made dinner a couple times in there as well as planned my country's 500 year anniversary party. :)Things are slowing down, although I have had a recent Facebook rant about those fools regarding the Miss America pageant. As a matter of fact, I am going to put it in here so that when I print this, my grandchildren can read it sometime and think, "Man, our grandma is freaking cool":

Dear Miss America Racist Ranters:First, unless you are full-blooded Native American, chances are you have some sort of ancestors who immigrated to this country at some point so that you would have the opportunity to sit on your couch and tweet your stupidity for the whole world to see.

Second, if you had gotten off said couch at some point to look at say, an atlas, you would see that the Middle East is about 2,482 miles from India. And that almost all Middle Easterners are not terrorists but folks who love their children, go work every day, and worship their God in the way they feel to be best for them.

Last, but not least, I have lived with, served, and love the Indian people. If you were not such closed-minded idiots, you would be proud to have a beautiful woman like Nina Davuluri to represent you.

Get a life.ValerieWhile it seems to have fallen out of my mouth easily, it actually took some time to put together because I really had to think what words didn't involve swearing. I am a missionary, after all. The nice deal of all this is that some fella I never met named Jim put me on his list of Favorite People. Which is pretty satisfying because little does he know that I have been working for years to get on it. That, and the fact that I will never make the People Best Dressed List, so I will take whatever list I can find.My life is so consumed with this photo thing and everyone who would read this blog should be reading the churchy blog (less swearing for starters--I mean SLC buddies in the Church History Department follow it so I have dial it down) because church is good for the soul.I do love this blog because I can let it all hang out (like using that saying right there....what is hanging out and how much is all?). I guess I like to do what I want, when I want, and how I want. Good thing my mom told me to look up my number for numerology (hello, Number 5) so that I could learn this about me. Otherwise I would still be following the directions of everyone around me, bossing me around. I am a Gold and following like a sheep is one thing we do when we are feeling low of energy (I know this will only make sense to True Colors Rich L. and The Girl).The bottom line is that I am not sure how much I will be updating this blog. You can find me here: http://www.theminimission.blogspot.com/ and here: https://www.facebook.com/whatthemormonmissionarysaw

In 1907-08, my great-grand Uncle George Anderson served as a photography missionary for the Mormon Church. His "calling" was to photograph all the important church history sites throughout the United States. His photographs are now recognized far and wide throughout the world.
I, 106 years later, completely by heavenly design, have been called as an official Church Service Photography Missionary. I have retraced his photography journey, step by step. I followed his meticulously kept journal, photographing the same locations on the very same calendar day...my own "mini" mission. So, I load up "Mrs. Fun", the bright yellow Mini Cooper my sweet husband bought for this very reason and hit the road....won't you come along?